leasing
noun/ˈliːzɪŋ/
Etymology From Middle English lesing, leasung, from Old English lēasung (“leasing, lying, false witness, deceit, hypocrisy, artifice, lie, empty talk, frivolity, laxity”), from Proto-West Germanic *lausungu, from Proto-Germanic *lausungō, equivalent to lease (“to lie”) + -ing. Cognate with Scots lesing (“lying, falsehood”), German Lösung (“breaking away, release, liberation, solution”), Icelandic lausung (“lying, falsehood”).
1
Archaic A lie; the act of lying, falsehood.
- fy on þi lawe / For al by lesynges þow lyuest · and lecherouse werkes.c. 1378-9, [William Langland], “[Passus II]”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...] (Cr, B-text), London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC:
- Then ren they with leſinges, and blow them about, With, ‘He wrate ſuche a bil withouten dout’, With, ‘I can tel you what ſuch a man ſaid, And you knew all ye would be ill apayd’.c. 1515–1516, John Skelton, 'Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c., published 1568:
1 more example
- Shewes, visions, sooth-sayes, and prophesies; / And all that fained is, as leasings, tales, and lies.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC: